Install Arch Linux

Info

This guide is based off of the DistroTube Arch Linux Installation Guide 2020

Tip

There is a new method for installing Arch linux using a script, while this is still in beta, they are slowly starting to roll it out to users. You can find more infor below:

Base System Install

Set keyboard layout:
```
loadkeys fr_CH
```
Check that internet services are working:
```
ping 1.1.1.1
```

Update the system clock:

timedatectl set-ntp true && timedatectl status

Partition the disks
1. List the disks in your system:
```
fdisk -l
```
2. Open fdisk to create the partitions (in this example, we will assume that the disk is called /dev/sda)
```
fdisk /dev/sda
```
3. Inside fdisk - Create a new GPT partition table: Type g We will create 3 new partitions, as shown in table below:
  
  Partition # Type Size
  
  Partition 1 boot 550M
  
  Partition 2 swap 2G
  
  Partition 3 / (rest)
  1. Inside fdisk - Create Partition 1:
    - Type n to create a new partition
    - Type 1 to add a number to partition (1 will also be chosen as default)
    - Type (Enter) to select the default starting point for partition
    - Type +550M to select the size of the partition
  2. Inside fdisk - Create Partition 2:
    - Type n to create a new partition
    - Type 2 to add a number to partition (2 will also be chosen as default)
    - Type (Enter) to select the default starting point for partition
    - Type +2G to select the size of the partition
  3. Inside fdisk - Create Partition 3:
    - Type n to create a new partition
    - Type 3 to add a number to partition (3 will also be chosen as default)
    - Type (Enter) to select the default starting point for partition
    - Type (Enter) to select the remaining disk space to be allocated to partition 3
  4. Inside fdisk - Select partition types
    - Type t to start the partition type selection process
    - Type 1 to select which partition we will set
    - Type 1 to select the EFI System type
    - Type t to start the partition type selection process
    - Type 2 to select which partition we will set
    - Type 19 to select the Linux swap type
    Partition 3 should be set as Linux filesystem, however as that is the default setting when the partition was created, we don't need to change it.
  5. Inside fdisk - Write the partitions to the disk
    - Type w to write the partitions. This will also exit fdisk when executed

Make the three filesystems for the three partitions that were created. Execute the following commands in order:

mkfs.fat -F32  /dev/sda1    # Make FAT32 filesystem for 1st partition
mkswap /dev/sda2            # Make swap filesystem for 2nd partition
swapon /dev/sda2            # Turn on swap filesystem for 2nd partition
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3         # Make Ext4 filesystem for 3rd partition

Mount the Linux filesystem partition
```
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
```

Install base system for Arch:

pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware

Generate file system table:
```
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
```
Change into the root directory:
```
arch-chroot /mnt
```
Set the time-zone (we set the Zurich timezone here):
```
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich /etc/localtime && hwclock --systohc
```
Tip

You can list the regions by running: ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/
Set the locale
1. Start by installing the vim editor:
```
pacman -S vim
```
2. Edit the /etc/locale.gen
```
vim /etc/locale.gen
```
  - Uncomment the line of your choice (line with en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 or line with fr_CH.UTF-8 UTF-8)
  - Save and exit the file
3. Run the command:
```
locale-gen
```
Set the hostname
1. Create and edit the /etc/hostname file:
```
vim /etc/hostname
```
2. Write the hostname of your computer (this is the name of the computer)
```
<hostname>
```
  Where <hostname> is the chosen hostname of the computer
3. Edit the /etc/hosts file:
```
vim /etc/hosts
```
  - There should be a few lines commented in this file
  - At the end of the file add the following
```
127.0.0.1       localhost
::1             localhost
127.0.1.1       <hostname>.localdomain      <hostname>
```
  - Save and exit the file
Create password for root:
```
passwd
```
Create non-root user and password for that user:
```
useradd -m <username> && passwd <password>
```
Where and are the chosen username and password.

Give non-root user sudo rights:

usermod -aG wheel,audio,video,storage,optical <username>

Install sudo:
```
pacman -S sudo
```
Allow members for the wheel group to access sudo
1. Open the visudo config file with vim:
```
EDITOR=vim visudo
```
2. Inside visudo - Uncomment the line about the wheen group (this will be under the User priviledge specification subtitle in the file, maybe line 82)
3. Exit and save the file
Install grub:
```
pacman -S grub
```

Install EFI associate packages:

pacman -S efibootmgr dosfstools os-prober mtools

Make EFI directory and boot directory:
```
mkdir /boot/EFI
```
Mount partition:
```
mount /dev/sda1 /boot/EFI
```

Run grub-install command:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck --no-nvram --removable

Generate grub config file:
```
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
```

Other Stuff Before Rebooting

Install network manager:
```
pacman -S networkmanager git
```
Enable network manager with systemd:
```
systemctl enable NetworkManager
```
Exit out of chroot:
```
exit
```
Unmount the /mnt directory:
```
umount -l /mnt
```
Shutdown the system (don't reboot this way you have time to remove installation media):
```
shutdown now
```

Install AUR and `yay` Utility

Instal makepkg capabilities:
```
sudo pacman -S base-devel
```

Install AUR:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-git.git

Go into the yay-git directory and make the arch package:
```
cd yay-git
makepkg -si
```

Partition #	Type	Size
Partition 1	boot	550M
Partition 2	swap	2G
Partition 3	`/`	(rest)

Install Arch Linux

Base System Install

Other Stuff Before Rebooting

Install AUR and yay Utility

Install AUR and `yay` Utility